A record 2.5 million Italians watch La Scala’s Butterfly
mainThe overnights are in and there are claims of a world record.
It appears that 2.5 million Italians watched the live relay of the original version of Madam Butterfly from La Scala.
There was also a big audience in Germany, on ARTE.
UPDATE: A earlier version of this story misstated the number of viewers. Apologies.
2.6 millions not 12.5…….
The 12,5 number is, according to press reports, apparently the total number of times someone in Italy watched the show so those kids clicking through channels would be counted, I’m guessing. The 2.6 million, the average viewer number at any time, is still a remarkable figure and, with a market share of 13.48%, a significant percentage of the total audience for a cultural event.
Yes, 12.5m seems unbelievable.
I’m watching it now, thanks to…. (whatever). Very good. A great idea to revive this version.
Such a shame the BBC can’t support British culture in the same way.
The last time was with the Solti/Georghiu Traviata – how long ago was that?
Eve at 2.6m it’s impressive when we constantly hear how opera is dying and losing its audiences.
Yes, great to see.
Opera is dying; Puccini is alive. There’s a difference.
As long as opera companies put on, every season, a Boheme, a Butterfly, a Turandot (everyone’s a sucker for Nessun dorma), the public will be sated.
In that sense, Riccardo Chailly’s ongoing project to conduct neglected or original versions of all of Puccini’s operas (like this revisiting of the disastrous Milan premier that Puccini abandonned), is just another commercial effort to keep offering Puccini to the Milanese.
Haven’t Welsh National Opera been doing the original version for years?
The WNO version was devised by the director, Joachim Herz, and uses some 1st version material (such as the exit of Pinkerton after the trio, and the confrontation between Kate and Butterfly). La Scala presented the complete original version, which I reconstructed for Ricordi .
Let’s put this 2.5 million number in perspective:
“The gala season premier was broadcast live on RAI state TV’s main channel for the first time in decades as part of Pereira’s effort to make La Scala more accessible.” (Associated Press)
So for decades, La Scala, funded by tax payer money, was accessible only to a few.
The audience was always there; they just couldn’t get in.
If opera is dying, it’s the elite choking it off from the public (even as the public is financing it).
Also, what does that picture have to do with the La Scala performance? It’s another soprano!! I mean 2 blunders in an article 3 sentences long, it must be a record.
Are you sure? As far as I can tell on this picture, she looks very much like the one I have seen on Arte.
You are right! I thought I recognized someone else in the pic. My bad.
Also in the Netherlands people have access to Arte TV and I assume that goes for other European countries as well. Wonderful and very sensitive orchestral playing under Chailly. The setting couldn’t be more Japanese, while the singing was of a good standard.
A satisfactory opera evening inside your own home!
Live relay perhaps, vs. liver relay..don’t you think she gives up enough already?
The feed was not available in the US so who knows the true number of potential viewers would have been.